The Age of Shadows

Synopsis

Set in the late 1920s, The Age of Shadows follows the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds between a group of resistance fighters trying to bring in explosives from Shanghai to destroy key Japanese facilities in Seoul, and Japanese agents trying to stop them.

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Kim Jee-woon, one of South Korea's most exciting voices working today, comes out with The Age of Shadows - now with the director presenting an espionage thriller set during the Japanese occupation of Korea. What I admire most about Kim Jee-woon is his versatility in terms of his body of work, for he smoothly adapts to sudden shifts in genre types without any trouble (going from slow-paced horror in A Tale of Two Sisters all the way to fast-paced action in A Bittersweet Life), yet there's always a distinct touch that makes his films recognizable. With The Age of Shadows, we have what may be his most polished film since A Tale of Two Sisters (my favourite from him at…

If there was any movie I could call the most bad ass of 2016 The Age of Shadows would easily take the title. Insane action, great performances, and one of the best train scenes ever is what The Age of Shadows gives and I loved every second of it.

From the writer-director of South Korean masterpieces like A Bittersweet Life, The Good, the Bad, the Weird & I Saw the Devil, The Age of Shadows finds the revered filmmaker tackling yet another genre with confidence & comfort, for his latest is a period drama with elements of action & thriller that's sophisticated in all filmmaking aspects and remains a tense, riveting ride for the majority of its runtime.

Set in Japanese-occupied Korea during the late 1930s, the story of The Age of Shadows follows a Korean-born Japanese policeman who's tasked with the operation to root out remaining members of his country's resistance movement but finds himself torn between following his superiors' orders or supporting a greater cause by helping the resistance fighters…

An entire country hidden behind shadows, through the narrow streets, dark basements, claustrophobic alleys, through the wall of fog: an information war, fought by black figures with partially obscured faces, hats and cigarettes are a necessity, informants with a sense of fashion as sharp as rays of light through a bullet hole. Kim Jee-Woon's latest gift to mankind is an age of incredible aesthetics. Be careful not to get too immersed, you'll soon catch yourself speaking in whispers and subconsciously looking behind as you walk.

Probably the best World War II movie and the best Spy movie since Inglourious Basterds. Baffling that it's only getting a release in the US targeted at immigrant communities. Especially considering it was produced by Warner Brothers.

It wouldn’t be right to refer to “The Age of Shadows” as a “yarn.” Very loosely based on an explosive footnote in the history of Japanese-Korean relations, the latest full-bodied epic from “I Saw the Devil” director Kim Jee-woon sprouts such a labyrinthine story from a single incident that this chic (if convoluted) spy thriller would be more accurately described as a magical beanstalk. The cloak-and-dagger adventure is far too sprawling for its own good, and the air only grows thinner as the film propellers towards its underwhelming finale, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more lavishly staged staged chunk of pulp nonsense.

I got pretty much what I signed on for - a Korean historical epic with all t he superlative production quality you'd expect, excellent acting, much violence and twists and turns galore. It doesn't quite reach the demented heights of The Handmaiden, but this is an excellent film.